Channel replacement therapy, based on synthetic channel-forming peptides (CFPs) with the ability to supersede defective endogenous ion channels, is a novel treatment modality that may augment existing interventions against ...

The ability of a transmembrane helix (TMH) to insert into a lipid bilayer has been mainly understood based on the total hydrophobicity of the peptide sequence. Recently, Hedin et al. investigated the influence of flanking ...

Temperature‐based replica exchange (RE) is now considered a principal technique for enhanced sampling of protein conformations. It is also recognized that existence of sharp cooperative transitions (such as protein ...

Achieving facile specific recognition is essential for intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) that are involved in cellular signaling and regulation. Consideration of the physical time scales of protein folding and ...

Notch receptors are core components of the Notch signaling pathway and play a central role in cell fate decisions during development as well as tissue homeostasis. Upon ligand binding, Notch is sequentially cleaved at the ...

Insect cuticle is composed primarily of chitin and structural proteins. To study the function of structural cuticular proteins, we focused on the proteins present in elytra (modified forewings that become highly sclerotized ...

Significant progresses have been made in the design, synthesis, modeling and in vitro testing of channel-forming peptides derived from the second transmembrane domain of the α-subunit of the glycine receptor (GlyR). The ...

Our recent study on the functional analysis of the Knickkopf protein from T. castaneum (TcKnk), indicated a novel role for this protein in protection of chitin from degradation by chitinases. Knk is also required for the ...

The functional characterization of an entire class of 17 genes from the red flour beetle, Tribolium castaneum, which encode two families of Cuticular Proteins Analogous to Peritrophins (CPAPs) has been carried out. CPAP ...

The aggregation or oligomerization of amyloid-β (Aβ) peptide is thought to be the primary causative event in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Considerable in vitro evidence indicates that the aggregation/oli ...

In response to invading microorganisms, insect β-1,3-glucan recognition protein (βGRP), a soluble receptor in the hemolymph, binds to the surfaces of bacteria and fungi and activates serine protease cascades that promote ...

A single GAG codon deletion in the gene encoding torsinA is linked to most cases of early-onset torsion dystonia. TorsinA is an ER-localized membrane-associated ATPase from the AAA+ superfamily with an unknown biological ...

Many lepidopteran larvae are serious agricultural pests due to their feeding activity. Digestion of the plant diet occurs mainly in the midgut and is facilitated by the peritrophic matrix (PM), an extracellular sac-like ...

Multicopper ferroxidases catalyze the oxidation of ferrous iron to ferric iron. In yeast and algae, they participate in cellular uptake of iron; in mammals, they facilitate cellular efflux. The mechanisms of iron metabolism ...

The anti-metabolic or insecticidal gene, arcelin (Arl) was isolated, cloned and sequenced using sequence specific degenerate primers from the seeds of Lablab purpureus collected from the Western Ghats, Tamil Nadu, India. ...

Six different somatic missense mutations in the human ADAM12 gene have been identified so far in breast cancer. Five of these mutations involve highly conserved residues in the extracellular domain of the transmembrane ...

Moths depend on pheromone communication for mate finding and synthetic pheromones are used for monitoring or disruption of pheromone communication in pest insects. Here we produce moth sex pheromone, using Nicotiana ...

The negative regulatory domain (NRD) of the p53 tumor suppressor is intrinsically disordered. It contains several post-translational modification (PTM) sites that are important for regulation of p53 activity. Calcium-dependent ...

We critically examine a recently proposed convective replica exchange (cRE) method for enhanced sampling of protein conformation based on theoretical and numerical analysis. The results demonstrate that cRE and related ...